Myrmecophobia
by Cannox
Summary: Myrmecophobia: the fear of ants. So what happenes when our favorite blue ant-eater Sniffles realizes he has it? How will he be able to overcome this new experince? Read and review, please.
1. Just a Normal Day to Die

**I want to say that this story will be told by Sniffles mostly, but other characters will join in too. I wrote this because I thought that if anybody stuck around that ant family, they would get myrmecophobia, which is fear of ants. But what if an anteater got myrmecophobia? Read on, my friend, and find out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H.T.F.**

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Hi, my name is Sniffles, and by request of Cannox, I was obliged to tell you this story. I guess my story starts that one summer day…

It was a mid-summer afternoon, with the sun shining out bright with a few clouds overhead. Toothy and Handy were buying ice creams from Lumpy. Well, really only Toothy, because when Lumpy handed Handy his ice cream, Handy reached for it, only to remember he didn't have hands to hold with. Putting on his famous look, Handy crossed his arms. Laughing, Toothy held Handy ice cream for him and they both walked away. But back to the real story.

I was in the park next to an anthill with my new invention. It looked like a vacuum cleaner that had gone high tech. Which it basically was. I planed to use the tube part to suck up the ants, and then I would knock them out and eat them. Man, when I thought about it later, it sounded stupid to me. This is what I mean: when I put it in the anthill, the ant family merely just dug a new hole and redirected it so that it was trying to suck up my rear. It was nothing more than an annoyance, so I reached to pull it off of me. But then I noticed an ant on the sucking dial. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I even put that on there? I thought I would have learned from my mistakes, but obviously not. It increased it to maximum power, and I felt the nozzle pulling off my skin and muscles. Don't ask me what happened next, because it's too painful to describe, and I think you can picture it in your mind. Anyway, I got _painfully _sucked into the vacuum, where I died.

But later, I awoke at the hospital. See, death doesn't seem to work in Happy Tree Town. I've even given up to explain how it's possible. All I know is that each time I die, it's like I go to sleep and wake up in the hospital. I felt around the desk right next to me until I found my glasses. I put them on and saw that Giggles was my doctor.

"Oh, Sniffles, your awake," said Giggles, then pulling off one of her trade mark giggles. "That was one nasty mess you got yourself in, but you're alright now, so you can go."

"Thanks, Giggles." I said and got myself out of the hospital bed. I got my clothes back from Lumpy, who was also working there. I changed in the bathroom and put the hospital clothes in a basket full of them. But as I walked home, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was different about me…

Um, can I get a glass of water? Thanks, I'll be right back.


	2. A Taste of Fear

Ah…thank you for letting me take a brake. Now where was I? Oh, now I remember! We stopped at the part where I was walking home.

The sun was now setting as I walked to my house. The air was now a tad cooler, but still warm. The fireflies were out, flickering their little lights on and off. Although it seemed peaceful, I walked faster. There were many things that _did _go bump in the night, like The Mole driving or Flippy flipping-out. As I hurried, I noticed the area was familiar to me….

It was the park.

As a looked, I saw the anthill with my invention. Sighing, I went over to pick up my invention, but as I got near the anthill, I felt something in me. Like just being near the anthill made me think of all the times I got killed by them. But there was something else, too. Like there was feeling in my chest that felt like dread, but something…else. I quickly grabbed my upgraded vacuum cleaner and, for some reason, ran until I got to my house. I entered my code and went in. I put the vacuum cleaner right next to the clothes racket, deciding to put in somewhere else tomorrow. As I entered bed, I took of my glasses and closed my eyes, hoping for sweet dreams. Instead, I got nightmares.

I quickly woke up, the nightmare still fresh in my head. In it, I was covered in ants that began to tear at my skin until I was nothing but bones. Breathing deeply, I put on my glasses and got ready for the day.

But as I exited my house, I saw an anthill in my yard. But instead of going near it, I went around it. _Far _around.

At first I thought it was the nightmare was just a one time only thing. But as I went to bed the next day, the same thing happened. I had a dream that ants were ripping out my tongue and strangling me with it. This happened many nights until I was a nervous wreck. Then Flippy helped me out.

I was sitting on the sidewalk, trying to think of a new invention, but the nightmares kept on creeping back in my head. Flippy came next to me and sat down.

"You okay?" he asked.

I wanted to tell him I felt fine, but I didn't feel like lying. "No, Flippy, I'm not. I keep having these nightmares were the ants torture me in some way."

Flippy thought it over for a minute before he said, "Have you considered therapy? It helped me a bit with my nightmares. Here, here's the number and address for the place."

As he handed me the card, I thought a small amount of therapy wouldn't hurt. But instead it revealed something about me…

What's that? You want to talk to someone else. Okay, I'll be in the waiting room while you talk with him.


	3. An Aftertaste of Confusion

Do-do-do-do-do-, wait, your recording? Oh, my name is Lumpy, and I was asked to tell about the time Sniffles came to therapy. I think I remember it…

I had just finished trying to help Petunia with her cleaning problem when Giggles spoke on the intercomy-thingy.

"Another is here to see you, sir," she said and giggled. I pressed the button that spoke back to her.

"Who is it?" I asked her.

She paused before saying, "It's Sniffles, sir."

Sniffles! What ever could he be doing here? I mean, he sometimes helped me with problems, but never in a million, billion years would I ever think Sniffles would come to me for help. Yet as a certified therapist I had a job to help those in need. So I said to Giggles "Send him in." I than said to Petunia, "Try not to freak out if a spot of dirt gets on you. Remember what I said: it's only dirt."

She nodded and left the room. As she exited Sniffles entered the room and laid on the couch.

"So, Sniffles," I said very professional like, "what seems to be the problem?"

"It's these dreams I've been having," he said. "In every one of them I get tortured and killed by ants."

"Well, let's see if a little blot pictures can't fix the problem," I said while taking out the blot pictures. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"I see me being a splat on the ground," he said, "and ants are surrounding me, celebrating my death."

"How about this one?" I said while flipping to the next one.

"I see myself getting ripped open by the ants," he said. "Hey, is it getting hot in here, because I'm getting hot."

"Focus!" I said. "Now, what do you see in this one?"

He looked at it closely before saying, "That's a picture of grapes. No, literally, there are grapes on it."

I turned the picture and saw that it was a picture of some grapes. Putting on a weak smile, I put the cards away.

"So, I'm going to say a word, and you say the first word that comes to mind," I said, "Math."

"Gasoline."

"Apple."

"Razor."

"Vacuum."

"Dial."

"Ooo-kay," I said, "Let's do something else."

We did more stuff until I went over to my computer and entered everything he said. I added Sniffles name and pressed enter. A paper printed off and I began to read it.

"It seems you have…myr…rme…cophobia. Myrmecophobia, which is…" As I read what was below it, I couldn't help but snicker.

"What is it?" he asked.

I handed him the paper and watch as his eyes shot wide open as he read it.

"I'm afraid of ants?!" he shouted. "But this is impossible!"

"Hey," I told him, "who's the therapist here?"

"B-but I'm a _anteater_!" he said.

"Well, the computer doesn't lie." I told him.

He sighed and got of the couch. "Well, thanks for telling me, doc."

I silently watched as he gloomy left the room…what, you want to talk with him again. Okay, I'll go tell him.


	4. Now For The main Course

**I want to say something this chapter…PLEASE, PLEASE, review for my other story, Happy Tree Eds. Okay, now that that's over, you can read now.**

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So, Lumpy told you I had myrmecophobia? Yeah, I was pretty shocked too when I found out. I mean, I'm an _anteater! _I'm supposed to eat ants, not run away from them. But as I walked down the sidewalk, I tightly held a rolled up parchment proving I was. I unrolled the paper and read it one more time.

_We are afraid to say that _Sniffles _has _Myrmecophobia, _which is _fear of ants. _We advise the patient to do the following when confronted with his/ her problem:_

I read each of the examples of what to do.

They are only ants. They cannot hurt you.

As long as you keep you distance and do not aggravate them, they will leave you alone.

When an ant is near or on you, let it crawl around until it leaves.

If you feel overwhelmed, count to ten and remind yourself that everything is all right.

Repeat to yourself every day: _They are ants. Only ants. They cannot hurt me in any way, so I have nothing to fear._

_We hope that this helps you with your problem, _Sniffles.

I rolled my eyes. Whoever made this had never met the ants I had to go aginst. In fact, when I saw an anthill, I decided to prove them wrong!

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

As I neared the anthill, I prepared to knock on the door, but something held me back. Even though it was a summer night, I felt very cold all of a sudden. My hand was just a few inches from the door, but I just couldn't do it. I felt a drip of sweat run down my face. I pulled back my hand and quickly ran home very quickly. When I got home, I plopped myself down on the bed and began reading the fifth rule.

"They are ants." I heard myself say with tears running down my face. "Only ants. They c-cannot hurt me, s-so I have n-noth-thing to f-fe…fea…" I finally broke down and cried while in a fetal position.

_What's wrong with me? _I thought to myself. _All my intelligence and I break down because of some fear?_

I dried the tears from my eyes.

_What should I do? Maybe I should go to Flaky tomorrow. She should know how to deal with this._

So I tried to go to sleep, but the fear of the nightmares were to great…

You want to talk to Flaky now? T-thank-you. I'll just…be in the waiting room again.


End file.
